Senior running back George Payne will forgo his senior season and final year of eligibility because of a career-ending injury, Southern Miss confirmed on Monday. Payne, who rushed for 940 yards and nine touchdowns across three seasons, was in his sixth season of eligibility after missing all of 2015 and 2017 with various injuries.

"Last week George had a season-ending injury," USM coach Jay Hopson said Monday. "He's a guy that, God bless him, he's a guy we were looking forward to getting back but he had a knee injury a couple weeks ago. That's unfortunate."

Payne had not dressed out for any of Southern Miss' three football games this season, and hasn't been full-go at practice since the second week of fall camp. The announcement of the end of his career comes less than a week after fellow senior running back T'Rod Daniels announced his intent to transfer, leaving the Golden Eagles shorthanded at running back.

Without Payne, USM retains one senior running back in Tez Parks. Parks has carried 36 times for 107 yards this season and caught five passes for 79 yards and a touchdown. Behind Parks, Southern Miss has a pair of talented freshmen running backs in Steven Anderson and Trivenskey Mosley, who have a combined 176 yards and a touchdown on 33 carries this season. Additionally, Southern Miss has fellow freshman Darius Maberry, who is recovering from a knee injury and isn't quite 100 percent yet, though Hopson said last week that Maberry is getting close to a return.

When asked about how he plans to handle Southern Miss' running back room with fewer bodies, USM offensive coordinator Shannon Dawson said the approach won't be much different. He said he still views it as his job to make sure Southern Miss puts the best product on the field.

"It's funny how as the season goes, people get more reps and people get less reps," Dawson said. "There's definitely different personalities in the room and different personalities take those changes differently. Ultimately, it's our job as coaches to figure out who the best players are and put the ball in their hand. Ultimately, that is our biggest job. I can't treat anybody differently based on the depth. You have to do your job."

Dawson compared his competition in the running back room to a quote from legendary UCLA basketball coach John Wooden. As the story goes, Wooden talked about the three changes he was willing to make when something was going wrong. First, he tried to change effort. Second, he changed the player he used. Third, he'd change the scheme. And, as Dawson laughed, Wooden said he never got to No. 3.

That's the approach Dawson said he's going to take with his running backs, with or without Payne and Daniels. Southern Miss will get its next chance to showcase its new-look running game on Saturday at 3 p.m. when the Golden Eagles play visitor against the No. 10 Auburn Tigers.